THE SPHYNX CAT BREEDEverything you need to know about grooming, nutrition, health, temperament and history of the breed

The Sphynx cat breed is commonly known as the 'hairless' cat breed. They appear to be hairless, but they really aren't. Their skin is covered with a fine down. When you hold a Sphynx cat, it feels very much like...well, holding a warm peach. Another unusual trait of Sphynx cats is their wrinkles. Wrinkles should be the heaviest around their shoulders, between the ears and around the muzzle. The body of a Sphynx cat is medium to large sized and muscular. They may, or may not have whiskers. When they do, you can expect for the whiskers to be broken and sparse.

Sphynx Cat Personality & Temperament

Sphynx are high energy cats and are excellent at balancing, climbing and even perching on shoulders like a bird. They LOVE your attention, hate being ignored, and truly enjoy being a show-off. Sphynx cats are loyal and affectionate, and will even follow you around the house wagging their tail. They love snuggling up with you in bed to stay warm. Sphynx do well with other animals, both dogs and cats.

Sphynx Cat Health & Care

Grooming your Sphynx cat is very important. The body oils of a regular cat are absorbed by their fur, but the Sphynx has no natural way to keep its skin's oil in balance. Failure to groom your Sphynx can lead to skin problems and oily furniture! Bathing at least twice monthly with a gentle tear-less baby shampoo to remove the build-up of body oils is sufficient to keep their skin healthy and daily dirt from 'caking-up' on their skin. Beware of bathing your Sphynx too often as this can also cause an increase in body oil production.

Just as with bathing, Sphynx cats require nail trimming and nail bed cleaning on a regular basis. We recommend you do so when you give your kitty his or her bath. You may need to clean their nail beds at least weekly. Their ears must be cleaned often as well to remove the wax and dirt build-up caused by little or no hair in their ears.

Sphynx Cat Allergens to Humans

Sphynx may appear hairless, but they are not hypoallergenic. They still produce dander, or, dead skin cells.

Sphynx Cat History & Background

The familiar history of the Sphynx cat begins in the 1970s. A pair of hairless kittens were bred with a white Devon Rex. The cats produced from this pairing, along with hairless cats born in Oregon, resulted in congenital abnormalities, yet the kittens were enough to cause excitement in the community. Breeders in Europe and North America set to work to perfect the breed. Selective breeding and outcrossing over the years has produced a strong and vigorous breed with a wide gene pool. In 2002 the Cat Fanciers Association (CFA) finally accepted the Sphynx for competition in the Championship class.

Sphynx Cat Diet

We recommend feeding your Sphynx cat a raw food diet. We feed our cats a diet that is modeled on what they would eat in the wild as it benefits them with improved digestion, greatly reduced stool odor and volume, increased energy, a healthy weight and better dental and urinary health. Feeding a raw food diet requires a little effort on your part, but we promise, it is not difficult to do.